A preliminary patentability search based upon this present invention produced the following prior United States patents:
______________________________________ Inventor Pat. No. Issue Date ______________________________________ Di Rosa, et al. 2,548,958 4-17-51 Bertino 2,552,135 5-8-51 Frederico 2,588,100 3-4-52 Foster 2,644,392 7-7-53 Ihrke 2,687,078 8-24-54 Matzenauer 2,918,860 12-29-59 Woron 3,140,650 7-14-64 Maindonald 3,336,858 8-22-67 Capucio 3,824,915 7-23-74 Weiss 4,404,899 9-20-83 Maroti, et al. 4,577,550 3-25-86 DeMars 5,522,306 6-4-96 ______________________________________
The Di Rosa, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,958; the Bertino, U.S. Pat. No. 2,552,135; Frederico, U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,100; the Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,392; the Matzenauer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,918,860; the Maindonald, U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,858; the Capucio, U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,915; the Maroti, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,550, and the DeMars, U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,306, all show vertical flow toasters with single tier toasting; i.e., the vertical level or vertical position of the items to be toasted when toasting is proceeding, is in a single plane.
The Ihrke, U.S. Pat. No. 2,687,078; the Woron, U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,650, and the Weiss, U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,899, show toasting systems in which the control system coordinates discharge with the completion of the toasting cycle and are relevant for their disclosures of similar control systems.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in vertical flow toasters and provide a more compact toasting system.